Do you Want to Join a Bowling League?

If you’ve spent anytime at the bowling alley, more than likely you’ve found a great interest in the game and have had a lot of fun playing and learning how to improve your game. What’s the next step?

Join a bowling league, of course! There’s nothing quite like finding a group of other people that share a similar interest and enjoy doing the same things that you do. Bowling is a perfect fit as although you can definitely go bowling and practice by yourself, it’s much more fun and interesting when there are others there with out with you.

How to Join a Bowling League

If you have a favorite house (aka bowling alley), that you typically go to and feel comfortable with, more than likely they have new leagues forming throughout the year. If there aren’t any new ones starting out, you may be able to join a league that’s already in session and play catch up if you’re a few weeks behind.

There is usually a bulletin board or table laid out that has all the information on current or upcoming leagues that are accepting new players. If you’re going in alone, that’s cool too because many existing teams have a mix of ‘loners’ that need a team member as well. Not a bad way to make new friends as you know they already have something in common with you.

Ask the staff and see what the requirements are and you should be well on your way in signing up and joining or creating a new team of bowlers.

What to Expect While on a Bowling League

Bowlers tend to be in a league of their own (no pun intended) and although it’s all meant for fun, sometimes one may experience a bit of a culture shock. There are many different personalities, and you will run into just about all of them on League Night.

Here’s a short list of what I’ve experienced myself so take my perspective for what it’s worth:

Brand Newbies – The thought of enjoying the game of bowling to those freshly introduced to the sport on a weekly basis with others is a good idea. They join a league but may not know all of the written or unwritten rules so cut them a little slack and teach them some of the basics if everybody is willing to help out.

Just Having Fun – Leagues are meant for fun, that’s the number one rule of bowling, but you may run into those groups where they like to have a little too much fun and may step over the line just a tad. It may cause a few riffs or cause some awkward moments so be careful but still work on that fun rule thingy

Betweeners – These folks are just about in the sweet spot of the bowling crowd range. They still have fun, but they don’t over do it and enjoy some of the friendly competition yet still cheer for the opposing team for the week.

A Little Too Serious for You – OK, this level gets a bit frustrating as, once the multi-colored bowling shoes go on, the focus and intensity take over and start so suck the fun out of the lanes. Don’t expect to change them and try to get some interaction going to keep things calm, but don’t be offended if it doesn’t quite go as planned.

I’m Supposed to Be a Pro, and You Suck – This is just a disaster waiting to happen, but do your best to stay out of their world. They may be able to throw a good game and that ego feeding mentality wins everytime so don’t even bother trying to add them to the list of friends. If you’re not on their team already, you’re the enemy and you will never be better than them…even if you beat them every game.

Don’t be that Team or Bowler

As you can see, there is a bunch of different worlds inside the bowling alley to navigate through on League Night. Some like to have fun, others…well, their definition of fun may be skewed to the rest of us but that shouldn’t stop you from joining a bowling league if you’re up for it.

After all, you may only end up bowling against them one time during the season so take the good with the bad and enjoy yourself.